House committees to hold joint hearing on T-Mobile-Sprint merger

Two House committees will hold a joint hearing next month on the $26 billion T-Mobile-Sprint merger, the chairmen of the committees announced Monday.

The Judiciary and Energy and Commerce committees will hold the hearing on Feb. 13. T-Mobile CEO John Legere and Sprint Executive Chairman Marcelo Claure will both testify at the hearing.

The merger would combine two of the four major wireless carriers in the U.S. The two companies last month won security approvals for the merger. 

{mosads}Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) and Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.) said in a joint statement that the hearing is necessary to “examine the effects on important issues like jobs, costs to consumers, innovation and competition.”

“A merger between T-Mobile and Sprint would combine two of the four largest wireless carriers and the carriers with the largest numbers of low-income customers. As the Committees with oversight of the Federal Communications Commission and Department of Justice, we must hold this hearing to examine the effects on important issues like jobs, costs to consumers, innovation and competition,” they wrote.

“We look forward to examining this merger from the perspective of what is in the best interest of consumers and hardworking people,” they added in the statement.

The statement was also signed by Reps. Mike Doyle (D-Pa.) and David Cicilline (D-R.I.), the chairmen of the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology and the Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial and Administrative Law, respectively.